Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Something kinda quick to get my quota in for the day. Still working on my sense of perspective. Foreshortening is still weak, but coming a little better than before. I did some very boring sketches this morning that I won't bother to scan. A little at a time, my sense of angles and distances are improving. It is completely frustrating to me that I have not mastered this yet. That is a good thing. This particular kind of frustration is motivating and helpful. It gives energy to my goals.

I discovered an article on SuccessConsciousness.com called Will Power and Self Discipline. I like the exercises they suggest. These are not big bold changes. They are small meaningful steps in the direction of building self discipline. In fact, they are almost too easy. How can something this simple be so effective? Repetition and changing things to keep yourself engaged.

I find that I do a pretty good job of painting every day for a while. One day I will give myself permission to slack. Something will happen and I will be convinced that I don't have time to paint. Then eventually, I find that I am only painting once a week, month and then my painting supplies begin gathering dust. It is easy to find reasons I cannot do this art thing. I have tons of distractions and lots of things I could be doing that seem more urgent. It really boils down to discipline and will power. When I let go of my self discipline, I lose will power.

I am starting to pay attention to my attitudes in regards to self discipline in my daily life. It is a strange activity to watch yourself think.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Playing with a few more colors than usual. It was really hard not to work this one to death. I am not sure I stopped soon enough. This subject may be worth painting again. I didn't settle into this as well as I did yesterday.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Getting back in the daily painting routine. Some days it flows and some days I have to really work hard for every correct brush stroke. Today was one of those easier days even though I was pressed for time.

My set up in the corner is working out pretty good. Because it is the northeast corner of our house, the lighting is pretty controlled. I have double lamps to work under. One for the still life. One for the easel.

I did some 90 second posermaniac drawings this morning between loads of laundry. Nothing was worth scanning. It was meant to get my eyes working again. It has been a long time since I used them to analyze this way. Using the quick gesture as a warm up did some good.

My focus lately is to improve my understanding of perspective. It does not come natural to me. I have a skewed sense of where things are in the world around me. I am trying to make correct perspective an automatic response. That means lots of boxes and cylinders for a while.

These paintings are like my morning friends. They wait for me to get the hubby and kids out the door, let the dog out, let the dog back in, sometimes let the dog back out and get my laundry started. They sit patiently, while I do my chores. They don't seem to mind the many interruptions of my daily life. It is nice to have them back in my daily routine again.